Canavese morenic hills and Erbaluce vineyards – Photo Credit: enostrada.com
While every luxury traveler knows Barolo and Barbaresco, the true connoisseurs are looking for the next frontier.
The dramatic revival of Alto Piemonte and canavese.
Unlike the limestone and clay of Barolo, Gattinara sits on massive beds of fragmented volcanic porphyry and iron-rich granitic soils born from a prehistoric super-volcano. Locally, Nebbiolo is called Spanna. The volcanic soil infuses the wine with a profound, iron-flecked, salty minerality, a nervous energy, and an incredibly high natural acidity. As it ages, it trades the tar and licorice of southern Nebbiolo for alpine elegance, shifting toward notes of dried flowers, orange peel, and saffron.
Further west lies Carema. Geographically, Carema isn’t technically part of Alto Piemonte—it belongs to the Canavese zone in the province of Turin. It is a tiny, steep, breathtakingly vertical amphitheater encompassing a mere 13 to 20 hectares of vines. This is true heroic viticulture, where every vine clings to the slope, supported by dry-stone walls and granite pergolas. The altitude, rocky soil, and extreme conditions shape a Nebbiolo (here in the Picotener biotype) wine like no other: lean, graceful, aromatic, and full of tension.
And then: Canavese. A rugged, mist-shrouded region of glacial lakes and dramatic morenic hills steeped in ancient winemaking tradition. Its crown jewel is Erbaluce di Caluso, a hyper-local white grape that thrives in these mineral-rich, acidic soils which produce wines of blinding, crystalline acidity and complex notes of green apple and alpine herbs. Highly prized by collectors for its versatility, Erbaluce is crafted into bone-dry table wines, electric traditional-method sparkling wines, and rare, honeyed passito dessert wines dried on straw mats for months.
the heroic viticulture of Valle d’Aosta.
Valle d’Aosta is alpine wine. Tucked into the northwest corner of Italy, bordered by France and Switzerland, this is the smallest and least populated region in the country. It is also home to some of the highest, most dizzying vineyards in all of Europe. When we talk about “heroic viticulture” here, it isn’t marketing fluff—it is a formal designation by CERVIM (the international body for mountain viticulture). To qualify, vineyards must meet extreme criteria: slopes with greater than a 30% incline, altitudes higher than 1,600 feet, or cultivation on intensely stepped terraces. Valle d’Aosta routinely checks every single box.
Start planning your next adventure today with Via Vitae Travels. For the collector, for the lover of the good life.
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Contact us at anthony@viavitaetravels.com or +1 269-317-2239.
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